Costa Rica I- Getting there is 1/8 the fun

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It’s so hot and muggy... But i still enjoy it here in Costa Rica. We took a nearly 48 hour bus ride, from Minnesota to New York. I got very angry with the Greyhound people because even after increasing their prices by double, they still couldn’t manage to find a few friendly, helpful people who could give you information at the damn Information booth! One man in Chicago just pointed to Customer Service when i asked him a question needing information while he was standing under a huge sign that said “INFORMATION”... i nearly punched him. Luckily he turned around and i saw his blazer read “OFF DUTY POLICE” ... ooops...

In New York, we dropped our bags off at a short-term luggage storage so without our large bags, we were free to wander New York City just a little bit. We didn’t do any proper sight-seeing as we have 3 days at the end of our trip to do that, so just travelling up and down the blocks, being harassed by tour guides to take their sight-seeing buses, walking into shops; we saw a very large Toys-R-Us with a huge Ferris wheel inside but it charged money to sit around screaming, snotty children so we decided not to ride the ferris wheel. I am not too impressed with large Western cities anyway, so i didn’t mind leaving NYC early for that day to avoid the busy polluted streets that smell of urine and the honking and the scurrying between people, the overly charged food and drinks and the crazy homeless man in a wheelchair on the corner making fun of people quite loudly as they passed.

We took a bus to the airport and stayed the night in the waiting area. I slept on the cold floor or along the uncomfortable chairs and Step slept with his legs across our luggage so no one would take them. That was day three of no bed to sleep in, and Greyhound seats are not the cosiest either. I slept most the plane ride and woke up to the plainest, most disgusting airline breakfast ever. We arrived at the San Jose airport and we took a bus to San Jose. From there we took a cab to another bus terminal to take us to Puntarenas, a peninsula on the southwest side of Costa Rica. The bus ride through the main bit of Costa Rica was nothing like i expected. It looked like a modern city in California or something... the city was pretty run-down to our standards, like in a poor-part of the city, but the wealthier folks lived around there. There were KFCs, McDonalds, Taco Bells, various big name stores found in the States such as car mechanics and department stores, surrounded by palm trees and other tropical plants.


In Puntarenas, we wandered the block looking for a hostel that we were told was really cheap. When we found it, we got mixed up in the exchange rate and thought she was offering us too much for the room so we left in search of another hostel. We found one we thought we were getting a deal at but worked out to be more than the hole-in-the-wall. The room we got had a bunk bed and a single bed, a TV, a bathroom/shower, and an air conditioner, but no window. It was so unbelievably hot, we turned the AC on but it just blew cool air down the aisle of beds but never cooled down and stayed stuffy the whole time because the lack of window. We wandered the streets a bit looking for something to eat but after wandering the block FOUR times in search of cheap food, we went to two different food establishments (called Sodas) and sat down but Step was angry about the prices and so we just got up and left... twice. We found a grocery store to get cereal and icecream at, but Step spilled the milk on the corner since he was too involved with his popsicle; we used it as a landmark when we got lost, to turn right at the spilled milk corner to get to our hostel.


That night we nearly fought to the death over the top bunk- the closest to the AC, but then we discovered it didn’t even reach that bed anyway. It was so ridiculously hot we spent the night laying in our beds, nearly in our underware and i had a wet rag on my head all night to cool off. The reception room next door was too noisy for us to hear The Longest Yard we were trying to watch- one of two channels in English . The next morning we found a bakery to get breakfast and took a cab to a ferry to head to Paquera. The ride was nice and refreshing, though still hot, adn the water was quite polluted and floating barges of trash. We then took a bus from Paquera to Montezuma, then from Montezuma to Rainsong, the “sanctuary” we are volunteering at. When we walked the quarter of a mile up the road in the sweltering heat with our ridiculously heavy luggage to hte sanctuary, only to find disorganization, no one knowing anything about us coming or where we were staying, and then they sent us back down to the road to walk a half an hour to the hostel we didn’t know we would be staying at: El Ancla de Oro. To be continued... as Step is crying it is his turn to use the computer....


^Út Í Óvissuna^

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Comments

[anonymous]

I miss my sissy, my sasa, my sasafras!! Get home to mommy right now! I love you! I will send you a email with the lastest news, gossip, area happenings & the wheather forecast! When you gonna be able to call me?? Love ya! your momma :0)

[niki]

Finally found more adventures-Yeah!
Wow! clicked on this line of blue print and found my adventure story. Will be spending more time here reading. Take care Niki